Ashes

Being brought up in a nominally Presbyterian household, I had little or no contact with the rituals of Ash Wednesday until I was an adult and a Pisky to boot. I've hardly missed an Ash Wednesday service for years, though, and today saw us - at the slightly odd time of 12.30pm - in the church for a low-key but beautiful liturgy, from which we all emerged with crosses marked on our foreheads. The ash, incidentally, comes from last year's palm crosses, mixed, I believe, with a little oil, and is applied with the words" "Dust thou art, and unto dust shallt thou return".

I've been accustomed to attending an evening service for this ritual, so the midday timing left a question: do I keep the ash on my head for the rest of the day? As this involved what turned out to be a painful and vigorous appointment with the dentist, I thought maybe not - too distracting, perhaps, for someone intent on hauling out a molar?

So I cleaned it off before I went out. And reflected: would it not feel a tad Pharisaical to parade one's acknowledged unworthiness in the face of an unbelieving world?

Answers on a virtual postcard, please ...